'Cask style' pint with perfect dense foamy head from bottle

[floydmeddler]

I've been trying to recreate the 'cask style' pint from a bottled beer at home now for ages. For me the perfect pub pint has a nice dense foamy head and I was pretty happy with using minimal priming sugar and pouring from a height as it gave me these results. However, there was still a bit of fizz in the beer which I dislike.

I've finally cracked it and all that's needed is one of these:




What I do is bottle direct from secondary directly after the gelatine has done its work. I use NO priming sugar. If the beer has been in secondary for a few weeks and the beer has actually conditioned, then I'm good to pour myself a beer immediately. It looks like this:



Not very appetising to me. I take the syringe and suck up as much beer as I can. I then hold it a few millimetres above the beer, plunge down as hard and fast as I can and I instantly get my perfect pub styled pint equipped with thick a thick, dense foamy head and lacing that lasts for the entire pint.





I'm basically just replicating a good final pull on a beer engine. It works great. The best bit is that I don't have to worry about sediment build up at the bottom of the bottle as there can never be any. No more cloudy homebrews at parties... although I may look a bit strange if I suddenly produce a syringe and start sucking beer out of my pint. Think I'll just do this at home actually...

Anyway, hope this helps if you're not getting any head Sorry...

[alfie09]

ha wish it was that easy to get some head! woman hey. never mind got side tracked there weird how that works i am dealing with the same issue to much fizz big head, just right amount of fizz and no head arggh

[crafty john]

I get plenty of head on my beer but a little less in other ways Here she comes Thank god she didn't see me.

[Scotty]

I get plenty of head on my beer but a little less in other ways Here she comes Thank god she didn't see me.

Don't we all mate. We wouldn't be locking ourselves away in sheds, outhouses, utility rooms etc if we did P**n has a lot to answer for!

Floyd, I do see this as a bit wacky and strange but it's one of those ideas that appears to work. I have a mate that used to pull dental tools from his inside pocket at partys when we were younger. A syringe seems sane.

[leedsbrew]

I can totaly vouch for this method as I have been using a syring to get that nice cask style pint from a corni, as at the moment i can not justify buying a beer engine! I find it works to de-gas your pint if you have over carb'd in the corni as well!

[sladeywadey]

Great idea - will give it a try myself.. I'm starting to not use much priming sugar myself nowadays. Next brew will see me leaving it out altogether. Once bottled do you just go straight to cold conditioning?

[floydmeddler]

Great idea - will give it a try myself.. I'm starting to not use much priming sugar myself nowadays. Next brew will see me leaving it out altogether. Once bottled do you just go straight to cold conditioning?

I ferment in primary, usually for around 2-3 weeks. I then rack to secondary with gelatine and leave for anywhere between 5 - 14 days before bottling. Once bottled I keep at room temp. I've used the syringe in beer that had been sitting secondary for 4 and a half months. Head foamed up perfectly.

Maybe worth noting:I do use 100g of torrefied wheat in all my beers so maybe this helps too. With stout I use flaked barley.

[Scotty]

I've just tried it with commercial bottles of Black Sheep and OP and it works a treat. Be careful when doing it with a carbonated beer as you will get an overspill! It was also ideal as it dispersed a lot of the CO2 making it smoother and more enjoyable.

[Manx Guy]

Interesting...

Does it effect the hop aroma/flavour at all as a tight sparkler on a beer engine is supposed to... ?

Well according to those Southerners anyway....





I have a beer engine but haven't used it more than twice as I get the results I like from bottling...

However now I have bought a couple more smaller polypins my next pale ale/ IPA will get partially put into the polypins, some into minicask and the rest bottled...

Cheers!

Guy

[beerlover36]

I used to do this years ago when using plastic kegs, it does work well and was a good way of bringing back a bit of froth when half way down a pint that had gone a bit flat. You do have to be careful when doing it with a bottle conditioned beer with a bit of fizz, it can get messy! imagine a beer with 90% head with the rest on the floor

[floydmeddler]

I used to do this years ago when using plastic kegs, it does work well and was a good way of bringing back a bit of froth when half way down a pint that had gone a bit flat. You do have to be careful when doing it with a bottle conditioned beer with a bit of fizz, it can get messy! imagine a beer with 90% head with the rest on the floor

Yes. Only do it with un-primed beer. Works brilliantly.

[Bryggmester]

Thanks very much Floydmeddler, you are a genius! I have a polypin full of ale which hasn't conditioned as it should, I suppose I should give it another couple of weeks really. Anyway it was coming out pretty flat and lifeless but I tried your method and it works a treat. A smooth silky head which clings to the glass all the way down.

[floydmeddler]

Wonderful!

[colgilbec]

Hey Floydmeddler,
Thanks for the idea,in some pubs these days its a must accessory,however i was discussing this at work and its benefits and a lad who used to work in the navy, clearly remembers buying Guinness Red Lable? abroad somewhere that was supplied with a syringe,dont know how long ago though.
Maybe it might jog a few memories?.

[floydmeddler]

Not familiar with Guinness Red label Colgibec. I like to think it's nicer than the extremely popular and famous draft version though... that stuff is horrendous!